Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Supergirl Episode 321: Not Kansas

Supergirl episode 321, titled 'Not in Kansas', aired earlier this week and was a good chapter in this season's overall arc. We had progression of the Reign storyline with one of the best action sequences I have seen on the show. We had Kara realizing that maybe you can't go home again. We had some progression in J'onn and Alex's subplots which seemed like organic progression for their characters. And we had enough names dropped and homages to make this fanboy happy. Plus, there are a lot of callbacks to things from earlier in the season giving this a feeling of strong continuity. And those things really helped this episode rise up.

That of course means that there were a couple of things about this episode that potentially could have weighed it down. And there were. For one, the romance angle with Mon-El is here in full force and I honestly wish it was gone completely. He should have left in episode 318 but has instead stuck around. I actually had a visceral response to him later in the episode. And when an old man like me gets that fired up about a romance plot angle, you know things are going wrong.

And, I'll say again, the politics of this show are often delivered in a ham-fisted, preachy way that somehow takes me so out of the story that it is hard to get back in. This episode had a message about gun control but used actual guns and gun tech to discuss it. It is so obvious that it was a bit too on the nose. Comics and sci-fi work best when they use allegory to teach. Super-powered mutants can be used to discuss racism and prejudice. Prime directives can be used to teach about colonizing. This could have been a plot about plasma rifles or red sun grenades. It would have been less glaring.

It doesn't help that this gun subplot is crowbarred into an episode where I really want to spend time with Kara, on Argo. She is why I watch the show.

Still, I am going to give this one an overall thumbs up for the great stuff it did do. Settle in, this is a long one. On to the episode.

The show opens right where the last one left off, with punches being thrown. While Mon-El and Supergirl fight Reign to a standstill, Lena works feverishly to incorporate the Harun-El stone into a cure.

People are thrown through ceilings and walls. Mon acts as a living shield for Lena. Capes are used like lassos. And then, Lena slides to cure to Mon-El who injects it into Sam's neck.

In a great shot that many anticipated (given the 'Black Kryptonite' feel of the Harun-El), Sam and Reign split into two beings. The Reign aspect explodes into flame. Just like that Sam is cured.

This was a brief but very frenetic opening scene with great effects and choreography. This felt like the desperate battle it should be. Just fantastic. My one nitpick is that it is Mon-El who injected the cure. Why not Supergirl?

Of course, given this 'cure' was sent to Earth by Selena, I didn't believe for a second it would last.

With Sam cured, Kara gets to discuss her time on Argo. Her first request? Ask Lena to try and manufacture more so Argo will be safe.

But next is to have a heart to heart with Alex. She is going to go to Argo ... maybe for good. She has never felt like she fit in on Earth. Argo felt like home. Alura is there. They will keep in touch. But she has to go. And Alex is supportive, realizing that it is time for Kara to have some time for herself.

I can completely understand Kara wanting to go back and be on Argo and spend time with her mother. I just don't know if her comment on never fitting in makes sense given what we have seen.

But this is another one of those moments which resonates with this season's theme of humanity. Is there more powerful a statement about denying her humanity than Kara heading back to Krypton (albeit a chunk of it)?

We get a nice scene where the DEO wishes her well. All the agents raise their glasses. J'onn talks about the agency trying to live up to Supergirl's standards. And Kara gives a nice voice over speech about how everyone helped her fill a void and be accepted.

I was very happy that the CatCo side of things was also handled, albeit in a few seconds. Kara Danvers will be 'going on assignment' and therefore be away from the place for a while.

For a longtime fan like me, hearing the DEO talk so highly of her and hearing Supergirl herself talk about her life made me very happy.

Mon-El asks Kara to use Argo tech to send a signal to the Legion to pick him up on Earth. She instead invites him to join her. She could use his friendship. Now, just as he should have left in 318, Mon-El should do the right thing and say he better stay on Earth. And he should. With Supergirl's absence, Earth could use another hero. And it would be a little sacrifice on his part. Plus, you know, he'd be faithful to his wife. Instead he joins her.

And on Argo, they are accepted into Alura's home. And Kara meets up with her old friend and now Chief Peace Officer Thara Ak-Var.!!

Okay, can I just say that I can still be stunned at things like this. I live in a time where Supergirl is so wide-known that I am seeing a live action Thara. Unbelievable.

But time has passed. Thara is a wife and mother now. It isn't easy to go home.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Myr'nn tells J'onn that his lifetime is almost up. They will need to perform The Reach soon, a Martian ritual where the elder generation passes on their memories.

I have been very impressed with both David Harewood and Carl Lumbly this season. This discussion by Myr'nn catches J'onn off guard and you can see how painful and confusing it is to him. He doesn't want to let go of his father.

Back on Argo, Mon-El and Kara walk through the street market and run into the now cured Val again.

Then, a crane carrying building material malfunctions, almost crushing Kara. It seems to convenient for it to fail just at that moment and Kara is suspicious, especially when she sees a cloaked figure run away from the scene.

For me, I wonder if this scene was the writers playing off the title 'Not Kansas' as it seemed ripped right from the Wizard of Oz. How I would have loved a Yuda witch to say to Kara 'you have no power here. Be gone before someone drops a house on you.'

Argo has had nothing but peace for years so the idea of this being a murder attempt seems ludicrous to both Thara and Alura. But Kara knows, at least on Earth. things rarely happen by accident.

It's like I always say 'you can take the girl out of the DEO, but you can't take the DEO out of the girl.'

Believing Kara's instincts to be true, Mon-El gives her his Legion flight ring. At the very least, she can fly away from danger.

Hoo, seeing Supergirl wearing a Legion flight ring. That hit me right in the feels!

Then realizing there is engagement/wedding vibes? Gut punch!

Meanwhile, on Earth, the gun control plot is shoe-horned in.

The Guardian is attacked in a parking garage by someone with an assault rifle, right down to the slow-mo dropping of the bullet casings a la The Matrix.

The weapon is a Heel-15 (close enough to an AR-15), a rifle sold to the DEO under proprietary technology from a gun manufacturer. (And it can't be a DEO weapon. He has them all tagged since Winn's mother stole one earlier. That closes that plot loophole.) J'onn feels strongly that this isn't a weapon needed outside the military and wonders how it ended up in the hands of a criminal.

This leads them to the CEO of the gun manufacturer, your standard money-grubbing, 'safety be damned' white male complete in room adorned with historical guns and a cowboy sculpture. The Heel-15 can be sold to civilians as a hunting rifle. But a bump stock can make it an assault weapon. But that isn't his fault. The CEO recalls going shooting with his grandfather, a loving time. And after all he needs to make a buck.

All he needed was a mustache to twirl.

Listen, this is a serious topic and I want stronger gun laws. Trust me. I recently priced Kevlar backpack inserts for my kids. I am scared beyond words. But this seemed all too real (especially things like bump stock talk) to feel natural in a Supergirl episode. Make it a plasma rifle, talk in metaphor, and this would have seemed like a teaching moment and not a sermon.

Back on Argo, Kara confronts a cloaked figure while at a restaurant. She feels it is the person from the marketplace. But Thara says the woman is a well-respected citizen. Everyone thinks Kara is stressed out. And Kara seems a bit bored with Thara's talk about furniture arrangements. Again, it isn't easy to go home.

Alura tells Kara that she needs to leave her time on Earth as a warrior behind her. This is Argo. She is home. It makes me feel like maybe Kara has some mild PTSD from her heroics. She tells her mother she will try to care for herself but she follows her intuition which tells her things aren't right.

The DEO realizes how hard it is to track who buys guns in this country. James wonders why people think guns make them safer. At least Lena gives another side to the argument. She has a gun which she has for self-defense and which she has used for self-defense. (Of course, she also used it to threaten Morgan Edge). But this could be the first wedge in the Olsen/Luthor romance. When she goes full on evil, remember this moment.

Finally, the DEO tracks down the shooter from the earlier scene. He has posted a manifesto on his social media that he is going to kill people at his old law office, Vang and Morales. The DEO gets there in time for J'onn to talk him down.

Again, Harewood gives a powerful performance. He talks about how the gun brings fear not respect. He talks about how bullying doesn't defeat a bully. This all sounds very timely and important. I especially liked this shot with J'onn holding his hand to the barrel, almost Christ-like. We have seen similar hand shots in the past.

Walking in a garden, thinking about her new life on Argo, a veritable paradise, Kara wonders if she'll be able to get accustomed to things.

And then that Mon-El moment.

He arrives, in khakis and a button up shirt (when did J. Crew come to Argo). It matches their outfits from the dream sequence earlier in the season. I looked at the youngest Supergirl and said 'if they kiss, I will vomit.' Honestly, I shouldn't be that bilious about a relationship on a show. But this is ridiculous.

He talks about how he stayed around to come to grips with his feelings for her. And she strokes his beard. They are surrounded by the lush foliage like a wedding picture shoot. It looks like a kiss is going to happen. I ran for a barf bag. For Rao's sake Kara ... he's still married!

But then a Kelex arrived and attacked them.Someone is after Kara. And she and Mon-El catch the cloaked figure who ran away from the market and the restaurant. It is that same woman.

She straight up tells them all that she is a witch of Juru. Selena is their high priestess. Their goals will happen.

J'onn's ship is gone. The Reign glyph burns on the Argo plain. Mon-El and Supergirl are trapped.

That is ... until they signal the Legion to get them.

Still, this woman gave up the goods pretty easy. She must be pretty confident.

Nothing left but the wrap-up.

Given recent events, J'onn wants the DEO to convert entirely to non-lethal weapons. Half the troops walk out. The truth is if he meant what he said about Supergirl being their inspiration, this makes sense. And maybe we won't see Alex shoot people in the face and throat in next year's crossover. But it is a stretch for a military outfit to not have high ordnance.

J'onn also realizes he needs to move on with his father's wishes.

Lena is now working with Miss Tessmacher .. a Luthor/Tessmacher team again! And Lena recognizes that the Harun-El has properties she wasn't expecting.

And Alex is missing Ruby. In a bold move, she puts down the glass of booze and looks at adoption sites! Perhaps we will finally get the 'Alex has a drinking problem' plot. I was so happy to see this!

Sam and Ruby play around in their house reunited. But Sam suddenly seems seized by some force.

Look at the movie they are watching! It's Barry's favorite.

But here it is 'Singin' in the REIGN!'

Nice sight gag/movie pun!

And J'onn's ship returns to Earth carrying the three witches. Thomas Coville is there waiting for them with a Kryptonian crystal. Selena puts the crystal into the ground creating another evil Fortress.

Bring it on!!!

As you can see in this review, lots of links to prior reviews. The writers have really layered things nicely. We got Thara and super-intuition! We got a Wizard of Oz and a Singin' in the Rain visual pun. And that opening fight! Unreal! Plus we got plot progress.

So I'll put aside the heavy-handed gun plot and the ickiness of Mon-El. This was very good.

This episode...man was it a doozy. It's like someone hit me with a bullet that causes stupidity and forced me to watch it. What happened?

The A-Plot with Kara adjusting back to Argo is fine, all good and Selena going MUHAHAHAHA at the end while slowly uncovering the mystery of how deep the cult goes and with Kara even doing the Super-Intuition thingie(thumbs up) and showing great competence in responding to the crisis was great. But the B and C plots were moronic and leave a sour taste to the A-plot, something that shouldn't happen, especially because it's a Supergirl episode about her re-bonding with friends and family that gives you more character development not just to Kara but to an entire subset of the Superman family.

In the B-plot, James channeling his inner James Harper and Mal Duncan with "GUNS BAD" is one thing but J'onn agreeing with him was moronic. The scenes required very few write ups to appear good, and they even had the whole set-up of James being an anti-gun nut, the seller being a gun-nut and J'onn being the logical middle man. It seemed to go that way until J'onn got angry at the seller not at the prospect that the moron is selling secret military equipment for secret purposes to civilians but at the thought of this guy selling more guns and getting a kick out of it.

Heck, J'onn seems to be a tool in the episode for James to be right which is moronic, his speech at the DEO was void. if anything, by changing a few lines and going :

"People, I have bad news. Unfortunately our weapon stock has been compromised and our manufacturer has made civilian versions of our weapons. At best we have to recall the guns sold and destroy them along with the blueprints of the company and at worst we have to take them by force, sue the manufacturer and take away his right to make these types of government approved weapons while destroying our stock to prevent potential threats in the future now that our technology has been compromised. FOrtunately for us, if worst comes to worst, agent Schott over here will make us anti-alien stun weapon like Agent Danvers has. It will be a slow process and we may need adjustments, we may even need to shrink the sector for a while but I assure you, even you feel the need to leave during our hardest trials, you are always welcome to join us back on the field. Dismissed."

And you'd have presented J'onn as the logical middle man showing both sides of the arguement and how bad or good the situation can go. But no. And then Jimmy says the worst thing, something to the effect of : "The world doesn't need more guns, they need more shields" which would sound very nice if Guardian's shield wasn't some titanium re-inforced edged tip shield that can easily be used to cut someone's throat, decapitate someone or even bash someone's head so easily exactly because of the shape and materials used for the damn shield! Unless you sheild is an ancient greek shield that is made of leather or wood and is rounded completely, you shouldn't be giving this advice Jimbo, because your shield is as lethal as the damn guns you hate. And just because Captain America has a plot shield that is made of plot metals that magically never kill anyone when he throws his shield, doesn't mean the same holds true for your shield.

And then comes Mon-El's romance as the C-plot. Just...dammit. How many steps did he advance? 1,2 steps? All thrown down the drain now. Bravo show. You have the damn Wizard of Oz thingie, three potential new Reigns and a cult tailing you and Kara wanting to destroy the universe. That's enough personal drama.

This is approaching some Charmed season 6-7-8 territory of stupid writting. They better fix it with the next episode and focus on the impending doom, that's all the drama the show needs for the finale.

Glad I wasn't the only one who felt the "guns/violence is bad" politcs was too in the face / gut this episode, as well as the walkout by half the DEO staff after J'onn's final speech -- but to be fair to it, it'll be interesting to rewatch this episode in 5-10 years' time to see if the message still holds up or just looks woefully dated. Though one possible positive we have to look forward to of the DEO "going nonlethal" is we may get a Winn "set phasers to stun" comment; I'D TOTALLY LOVE THAT!

Otherwise, I LOVED the additional time on Argo City, and the reverse culture shock Supergirl was going through. And I LOVED LOVED LOVED the namedrop of Thara Ak-Var!! but totally missed the "superintuition" reference... thanks for pointing that out Anj.

In hindsight, I almost wish the entire episode was focused on Argo City and advancing things to the finale and Selena'splans... not to say the Carl Lumby / David Harewood, Chyler L, or even the Tessmacher / Luthor moments were useless. Indeed I want to give a kudos to TPTB and to Andrea Brooks for being a constant within the Supergirl universe. It's definitely been a strong and enjoyable presence!

Hopefully with the sideplots aired out this week, next week's finale can be all about the action and the big bad!

Y'know, I didn't know that Kryptonians, heirs to a culture thousands of years ahead of Earth are still trafficking in "Gazebos", "Backyards" & "Babysitters"? Again, "clunky writing" but this time sort of funny, I do begin to wonder if Harewood, Benoist, Leigh or whoever ever question some of these clunkers at the table reads...the answers would be interesting.I wasn't gonna comment on the "gun thing" (its no more heavy handed than the average "Twilight Zone" ep IMHO, but we've all gotten oversensitive these days), I will say that "de-lethaling" the DEO AT LAST prevents Alex from being Supergirl's Assassin of choice, which is a good thing IMHO.Unless of course they go back on this plot point, this IS Berlanti etc after all.Having Allura back opens up thousands of miles of potential plot territory, but it's also a storyline that logically should take up half a season, instead they are shoe-horning it all in forcibly in thru the last three episodes...again clunkiness.I wonder if in Season Four The Kara-Allura relationship will decay as it did during the Gates run in the comics...Its certainly the perfect trigger for Lena to go full on villainess.But then I wonder how long Allura will last in season four anyway...Generally though I liked this ep, it answered the question as to how comfortable Kara would be if she ever did find survivors of krypton, the truth is, "not very" which is a good character point generally speaking.

"And then comes Mon-El's romance as the C-plot. Just...dammit. How many steps did he advance? 1,2 steps? All thrown down the drain now. Bravo show. You have the damn Wizard of Oz thingie, three potential new Reigns and a cult tailing you and Kara wanting to destroy the universe. That's enough personal drama."

Well, I thought the actors were having a bit of fun dragging out the inevitable 'Mon-El wants to tell Kara a personal secret, but keeps hesitating' routine this time around. Seems to me that in the end, it's going to boil down to the "no time for romance, I gotta superhero and save the world" cliché resolution anyway, but I enjoyed the beautiful scenery at the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens filling in the backgrounds as Argo City. Also, 'be careful what you wish for' looms pretty large in more than one way in this episode.

"James channeling his inner James Harper and Mal Duncan with "GUNS BAD" is one thing but J'onn agreeing with him was moronic."

Disagree. Both men were making moves inspired by Kara's hopeful optimism; and for once, J'onn decided to be proactive instead of reactive to a situation that he may have been partly responsible for.

Certainly, there's a current events element to this 'DEO copycat weapons on the street' subplot, but this doesn't necessarily make it political in nature. That's a misnomer. However, I strongly suspect that this subplot is likely to dangle into next season, given that J'onn's speech near the end didn't resonate with about half of the DEO personnel....this decision could inadvertently create a rogue splinter group, methinks...

"I almost wish the entire episode was focused on Argo City..."

Seems pretty deliberate to the overall story arc that the show is not letting the audience get too comfortable with the concept of Argo City...perhaps because it may only be temporary?

"She tells her mother she will try to care for herself but she follows her intuition which tells her things aren't right."

...and of course, Kara's intuition was right on the mark, as always. That's a pure Supergirl moment of clarity.

I don't know, the way the whole thing was shot, the motion, the lighting and the semi-haze gave me flashbacks of girl shows of "how perfect is your boyfriend / will they or will they not" from things like Beauty and the Beast and Charmed. It would be fine, if the situation had the two females sorting out a situation they created and Mon-El coming out clean and saying what's on his mind and his heart but dragging it so far is...kinda demeaning to all the characters.

It's fine for people to be inspired by Supergirl's heroism and optimism but context should never become void. You don't anull and entire season of "muh vigilante" from James and wave his stance of guns as optimism nor do you anull J'onn's entire run and how adamant he is in protecting, no matter the cost. He never objected in things like "rain lead all over the earth if it meant things are safe". That was Supergirl's job and she played her role. In fact if that's the case it's worse because he's pulling a Flash and has no character because like in that show after the second season, everyone must fullfill a character role rather than be a character. In Flash, Barry can't be optimistic, thoughtfull, competent, street smart or a leader otherwise Iris, Harrison, Cisco, whoever character is in for that season and either Iris or Daddy West are useless in that episode. And the best example was when Iris and Barry traded powers and they instantly semi-switched personalities and traits as well after the "wacky 5 seconds of akwardness due to new positions".

It's not a matter of politics or whatever message the writers want to pass on; it's blatant bad writting and not understanding what a character is. I'm not from America so if this is based on current events means absolutely nothing to me as it will mean absolutely nothing to the future viewers as well. You base a tv show around the characters whether they tackle current events or not because they make the viewing experience to make up for the lack of other things(the budget's kinda slashed in this season, so we see less of Kara's powers, J'onn's powers etc).

Not to mention the whole half the people walking out after J'onn's speech because "muh gunz" is moronic for a reason far more defeaning than a hamfisted on the nose message : it shows absolute holes in the DEO, in the organization's screening process and employees motives. What the hell? It'd be like if there was a leak in Microsoft and Bill Gates said "Whelp, we will stop constantly updating Windows 10 and actually be productive and make new, competent software with gusto that benefits the world." And half the employees walk out because the updates were the easiest way to a fat check and having them be lazy 24/7. Nobody comes out looking good in this case, neither the employer nor the employees because both show negligence and other horrible traits they might have(being utterly naive, untrustworthy etc). Heck, if anything, in a season where Supergirl has been the punching bag of the bad guys who seem to constantly get stronger, going full stun weapons is moronic, especially when said villains have murdered people in front of the DEO and Kara. It'd be one thing for Kara to abide to a code but the rest would be rightfully horrified especially because they don't all know the inner workings of Supergirl and the World Killers relationship.

Where do you think they're headed with all of this, Anj? This episode pretty much convinced me Argo and Allura are not a hoax, not a dream -- since they're as real as Selena controlling Reign. So, with the comics as a guide, we might see Brainiac come for Argo, or we might see Argo become too damaged and the Kryptonians come to Earth ... what direction are you favoring?

Excellent review, Anj. You'll probably be shocked to hear that I agree with almost everything you wrote.

I also agree with many of the comments about the heavy-handed way the gun subplot was handled. I'm not going to bother taking issue with the obvious, liberal slant of the writers, except to say that,

A) I agree with Lena's position, and that ...

B) Unilaterally disarming the Good Guys is a never a good idea. What's the DEO going to do the next time an Alien Armada invades Earth, and starts wiping out the human population? Stick flowers in their ray guns, and sing Kumbaya? Unarmed Resistance is FUTILE!!

Reign was dispatched rather easily in perhaps the most anticlimactic moment of the season. What happened to tearing out Lena's spine? All Reign did when she escaped was trade a few punches with Supergirl and Mon-El, and bust up the lab a little. Emphasis on the “little,” because even with all that screaming, and punching, and Kryptonian Cape-fu going on, Reign didn't even manage to cut off Lena's bunsen burner, much less stop her from whipping up the “Reign Repellant” faster than a Starbucks' barista can pour a Triple Venti Half Sweet Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato. Then, Lena poured it into a subdermal injector that should've NEVER been able to penetrate Reign's skin, except that, of course, it DID. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Reign (or Ruby, unfortunately), which is good because THAT was just a little TOO easy! I'm actually a bit surprised someone on the show didn't say that.

I'm ALSO surprised, and VERY disappointed that, in all the excitement about Kara finding a surviving Kryptonian city, no one has bothered mentioning it to that OTHER Kryptonian on Earth. I think Kal-El might be just a tad interested in the news that he's NOT the Last Son of Krypton after all. I miss the plot device of seeing Clark and Kara exchanging texts. That would've come in handy in this episode.

I LOVE that Miss Tessmacher – a lovely combination of brains and beauty – has joined Team Luthor. It just SEEMS right. Now, if someone will just tell her that she's got her shirt on backwards, we'll be getting somewhere.

In the Argo storyline, the thing I found even MORE jarring than the idea of Kryptonian gazebos, was that Thara, Kara's childhood friend, and former schoolmate, has a DISTINCTIVE British accent, which is COMPLETELY different from the way anyone else in Argo speaks. Where did she pick THAT up? Can Argo City pick up the BBC? Why was the actress cast in the first place if she couldn't speak with a more “neutral” accent like everyone else? Maybe she's a refugee from “Krypton,” the TV show!

What's the Witches' beef with Kara anyway? You'd think they be HAPPY that she provided them with a way off that godforsaken rock, so they could get to a place where they can REALLY have some fun. Who knew that Martian spaceships were as easy to hotwire as a '57 Chevy? Are these three Witches supposed to be the “new” Worldkillers” after TPTB inexplicably killed off Purity and Pesty before they barely even got started? That suddenly dropped storyline had the stench of “last-minute rewrite” all over it.

I don't care very much about the romance angle, since Mon-El IS a married man, after all. As for Alex, I don't care if she's drinking or not, no adoption agency in the world would EVER allow a single woman who wears a super-strength exoskeleton for her day job hunting hostile aliens, to adopt a child. Even if they did, it would be very selfish of Alex to do that to a kid who needs a REAL family who can provide them with a normal, safe life. She should get herself a rescue dog, instead.

If Guardian's shield is as heavy as Winn was making it out to be, it's not very practical. Captain America's vibranium shield is supposedly incredibly light, as well as strong. Guardian's shield looks like it's as heavy as a car door. A plexiglass shield like the ones police SWAT teams use would be MUCH more practical than lugging around THAT thing.

I wonder if anyone from CatCo will ever wonder why Kara Danvers, their new foreign correspondent “on assignment” never files any stories?

“Guns are never the answer...” says the invulnerable Martian Manhunter.

I have the feeling J'onn's going to up to his pointy green ears in transfer requests. Without lethal weapons, they may as well rename the DEO the “Suicide Squad,” except that that name's already been taken.

Speaking of names...

When did J'onn start introducing himself to civilians as “Director J'onn J'onzz” instead of Hank Henshaw? Doesn't ANYBODY care about Secret Identities anymore??

On the other hand, I think its sort of cool that the DEO may well be the only super secret spy on all of current broadcast television that isn't a essentially a sanctioned death squad with a free license to escalate all firefights to sub nuclear levels.I also doubt the writers (given their default clunkiness) can make this stricture stick.I'm sorry (within parameters) that everyone feels so threatened by this plot point on a TV show...its fiction after all.

Late as ever! Anyway, very interesting episode. I’m totally anti-guns for private citizens but boy, was this - as everyone has said - the epitome of clunky writing. And idealism is wonderful but again, echoing others, the DEO at last needs SOME weapons of last resort... guns that may be lethal to a human might merely tickle an alien, so they need to have some, well, big guns.

I near jumped for joy when we got to see that Eve’s bright as heck, though Jimmy’s comment that she’s no longer able to surprise him seemed out of nowhere, have I forgotten something?

Argo seems like the most boring place on the planet, any planet. Like a farmers’ market without rubbish jugglers to laugh at. I’m heading for the lead plating with a can opener...

The romance bit was truly awful, these people should be better than this. Kara looked totally about to snog a married guy, Imra should give her a serious headache. And what is it with US dramas and soppy songs ... watch us get a Hallelujah montage by the end of the season.

Did everyon forget Eliza exists? Kara might have said bye bye.

Glad it wasn’t just me thinking ‘super-intuition’. Isn’t it fun being old?

That business with the >snicker< gazebo, I was hoping for Kara to go all Nura Nal and use the flight ring to reposition it; maybe there’s a deleted scene waiting to show up on the season DVD.